1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles having non-cylindrical inclined surfaces with a liquid beverage filling material.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes the filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Bottles may be labeled in a labeling station, the labeling station having a conveyer arrangement to receive bottles and to output bottles. The closing station and the labeling station may be connected by a corresponding conveyer arrangement.
The labeling of containers or cans, for example, or cartons or similar objects is of particular importance in the beverage and packing industry because an advantageous and attractive labeling of the containers represents a major contribution to the successful sale of a product.
The prior art describes numerous different methods that can be used for the labeling of bottles, cans, glasses, cartons etc. These methods also include methods for providing the containers with printed, self-adhesive film segments, which are also called self-adhesive labels, whereby these labels at least partly surround the peripheral surfaces of the container.
To facilitate the processing of self-adhesive labels of this type, the prior art teaches that the labels are not stored and processed loosely and individually in the corresponding labeling machines as they are, for example, in the type of machine that is used for the processing of single-sheet paper labels. Instead, the manufacturing process of these self-adhesive labels is designed so that at the end of their manufacturing process, the self-adhesive labels are positioned on a backing film that is realized in the form of a long, narrow strip. The backing film provided with the self-adhesive labels is coiled up and then fed in the form of a roll of labels, which can contain several thousand, e.g. 16,000 self-adhesive labels, to a suitable labeling machine and is processed in said machine.
In industrial practice, it has become common to call the backing film provided with self-adhesive labels Label Strip 13.
As the self-adhesive labels are processed, the label strip is unwound from a label strip roller and is guided in an appropriate manner through the labeling machine. At a point that is in close proximity to the beverage containers or cartons to be labeled, the label strip is guided over a sharp edge—which is also called the dispensing edge—during which process it is bent at a sharp angle. The label located on the label strip is thereby unable to bend as sharply as the label strip and therefore becomes detached from the label strip, as a result of which it is available for the subsequent labeling process. Then the label strip 13, which as a result of the detachment of the labels has become what is now called the backing film 14, is transported further through the labeling machine and wound up on a take-up device so that it is easy to handle and dispose of.
One of the tasks that comes up again and again during the operation of a labeling machine is the need to label containers that have inclined surfaces, i.e. surfaces that are inclined at an angle with respect to the vertical, whereby it is also desirable to attach the labels so that they are at least partly located on these inclined surfaces.
During the processing of self-adhesive labels, it is particularly advantageous to apply the labels to the surface to be labeled in an orientation in which the dispensing edge and the surface to be labeled are essentially parallel to each other.
For this reason, in the past, labeling stations have been proposed in which the entire labeling station can be pivoted around an axis of rotation that is oriented horizontally in space, as a result of which an orientation of the dispensing edge parallel to the surface to be labeled is achieved, which corresponds to what is called the working position.
However, one consequence of this method is that the label strip and backing strip rollers, which are conventionally located on the rear end of the labeling station, track the pivoting movement, and therefore move farther away from the ground or the floor of the building and are sometimes so high that they are either totally out of reach or can be accessed only with difficulty.
On account of the great weight of label strip and backing strip rolls and of the great distance between the mounting positions of these rolls and the floor, in the configurations of the prior art it is not possible to change the label strip roll, for example, when the labeling station is in the operating position. Consequently, a labeling station that is in the operating position must be pivoted out of that position every time it is necessary to change or replace the label and/or backing roll(s), so that the mounting position is within the reach of the operating personnel. This procedure requires not only a re-orientation of the labeling station, but also an interruption of production, which is undesirable in practice. The devices of the prior art are also mechanically complex and therefore expensive.
The present application relates to a station for labeling machines that process label strips, and in particular for machines that are suitable for the labeling of inclined surfaces on containers such as, for example, bottles, cans, glasses, cartons etc.